‘Neglected’ 16-year-old daughter of diamond merchant in Mumbai cooks up assault story

The teenager claimed on social media that she had been stalked and attacked, but police found her claims false after investigations

The girl also claimed she was being stalked and was getting threat messages on Instagram, said a police officer.

A 16-year-old daughter of a diamond merchant cooked up a story of being stalked on social media, getting threatening messages and being attacked by an unknown person, apparently after developing a feeling of being neglected by her family, the police said. The Khar police said investigations are still on, and they are yet to reach a conclusion.

The incident came to light after the police conducted preliminary investigations into the complaint lodged by the college student. She had approached the Khar police on February 21.

“In her complaint, after coming back from college, she left the door of her house open. She claimed a man entered the flat and strangulated her,” said a police officer who did not wish to be named. “She said she stabbed him with a pen in her pocket and then broke a glass on his head, after which he fled.”

The police registered a case under sections 452 and 323 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and reached the spot and questioned the watchman of the plush housing society in order to ascertain veracity of the girl’s allegations. When the watchman told them he did not see anyone entering the gate, the police suspected that someone from the building had attacked her.

During her interaction with us, the girl also claimed that she was being stalked and was getting threat messages on Instagram from a man, said a police officer. “She told us that whenever she came to the police station, the man used to tell her that no one can trace or catch him, which made us suspicious of the sequence of events,” said the officer.

The police did not find anything in the CCTV footages and also got suspicious about the claims of the girl about Instagram messages. “How was it possible that every time the investigation team contacted her, she received a message on Instagram,” the police officer wondered. “When we confronted her, she told us that she felt neglected as her parents used to go to Thailand, where her father’s business is based, but they never used to take her along,” the officer said.

“The prime reason for this kind of behaviour is lack of communication between parents and children,” said Dr Avinash D’souza, a child psychiatrist explaining the girl’s conduct. “The age [12-18] is very crucial, parents should give as much time as possible to their children and if they do not do that there is a possibility that the child might get into substance abuse, depression or a failed love affair,” Dr D’souza warned. He said it also needs to be looked at whether parents have had an open relationship with her in the past or not. “Maybe in the past she could have tried to suggest the same, but was ignored,” he said, suggesting, “They should sit together and talk and also seek professional help together and individually.”